on the button Issue 49 | Page 11

When did you get into beards? The beard thing – well I’ve always had some sort of beard or long sideboards or moustache, I taught myself how to look after it and I seem to have by accident ended up looking like a traditional barber. People started coming from a long way away to get their beards done here, like Loughborough! My friend Tom runs the Bedfordshire Beard co – actually he lives in Arlesey, anyway he realised his Mum’s essential oils were better than any products on the market so started making his own beard oil and selling it to his friends and then we were the first official stockists. I’ve started doing beards at music festivals too, last year Latitude Festival got in touch and wanted us to come along and be the festival’s official beard groomers. I’ve done Standon Calling as well and am about to go to the V Festival. Its incredibly busy all weekend. It started in our dinning room with just friends and relatives and it got busy quickly the customer base grew and we had to take on a little shop – lots of musicians and artists started coming here and its really gone from that. People also like it that we use vegan approved products and we have that ethical approach. I know you’re in a band because I’ve been to one of your gigs, tell me about the band? I play the drums, I’ve played the drums since I was a child and always been in a band since I was about 13 my first drum kit when I was 12. We’re called The Saboteurs and there are six of us, actually we’ve got a new member he’s in Arlesey too, Tim Wheeler, his dad had that lovely old fire engine that was targeted by thieves. We rehearse as much as we can, we do gigs, its difficult because the other band members are mostly professional musicians which, when I formed the band I thought was cool because they’ve got experience but its not when they spend three months in LA with Lana Del Ray! ➜ www.facebook.com/groups/onthebutton/ | #infoonthebutton | on the button issue 49 September 2016 11